LOUISIANA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY | Secretary Aurelia S. Giacometto
A DEPARTMENT OF THE STATE OF LOUISIANA
The 2001 Action Plan describes a national strategy to reduce the frequency, duration, size, and degree of oxygen depletion of the hypoxic zone of the northern Gulf of Mexico. The plan was submitted as a Report to Congress on January 18, 2001.
In 2006 as part of the reassessment, EPA’s Office of Water, on behalf of the Task Force, requested that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Science Advisory Board (SAB) convene an independent panel to evaluate the state of the science regarding hypoxia in the Northern Gulf of Mexico and potential nutrient mitigation and control options in the Mississippi-Atchafalaya River basin (MARB). The Task Force was particularly interested in scientific advances since the Integrated Assessment and issued charge questions in three areas: characterization of hypoxia; nutrient fate, transport and sources; and the scientific basis for goals and management options.
ADB is a relational database for tracking water quality assessment data, including use attainment, and causes and sources of impairment. EPA uses state-level ADB information to feed the national ATTAINS data management system.
Best management practices (BMPs) are used by agricultural producers to control the generation and delivery of pollutants from agricultural activities to water resources of the state, thereby reducing the amount of agricultural pollutants entering surface and ground waters. This publication includes information on five main areas: nutrient management, pesticide management, soil and water management, pasture management and general farm BMPs.
Assist by linking agricultural/forestry related businesses with financial resources (including loans and grants), identify raw material supplies and directing such entities to various state sponsored business incentives. Assistance is available to local and out of state business interests as well as through community and economic development organizations; Division staff may also assist in the identification of financial resources outside of the programs offered by the LDAF. The following entities offer financial assistance: USDA Rural Development and Farm Service Agency, Ag Credit Corporations First South Farm Credit and Louisiana Ag Credit, the Louisiana Economic Development Corporation at Louisiana Department of Economic Development as well as commercial banks.
Prescribed burning is an agricultural management practice and, in Louisiana row crop production, is used primarily during sugarcane harvest. There are a number of environmental concerns associated with this practice and the state has instituted a voluntary smoke and ash management training program to assist growers in addressing these concerns.
Through the Agricultural Solid Waste Management Program, agricultural producers can learn how to manage agricultural waste for beneficial uses; By the use of Best Management Practices adopted through this program, facilities such as rice dyers, grain elevators, cotton gins, seafood processors and similar operations, or facilities generating wood waste or stable manure can carry out their activities in an environmentally sound manner, where otherwise these operations would be subject to the LDEQ solid waste permitting process at public expense. By affected producers and processors implementing prescribed BMPs through this program, agricultural waste and by-products may be utilized beneficially as organic fertilizer, mulch, and other useful products.
Discusses using approach of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) to involve all sources of water in planning; addressing water quantity, water quality and ecosystem needs; incorporating principles of equity, efficiency, and public participation in water planning; and sharing information across disciplines and agencies. however, implementation of this approach has been slow. The AWRA attempting efforts to advance and develop a better understanding of IWRM. Report includes case studies.
The U.S. Geological Survey's Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative (ARMI) is divided into seven regions. The south-central region includes the States of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana. We are currently conducting research projects designed to monitor amphibians on Federal lands in these States and to research possible causes of declines in amphibian populations. These potential threats include loss or degradation of habitat, disease, and contamination or pollution.
Watershed model for overland flow, runoff; addresses nitrogen and phosphorus in addition to other parameters.